Drill pipe finger



March 13, 1956 H. L. PORTER 2,738,076

DRILL PIPE FINGER Filed Aug. 27, 1951 Henry L. Porter INVENTOR.

United States Patent DRILL PIPE FINGER Henry L. Porter, Marrero, La.

Application August 27, 1951, Serial No. 243,822

1 Claim. Cl. 211-60 This invention relates to new and useful improvements in fingers for racking drill pipe in derricks of conventional drilling rigs.

The primary object of this invention is to enable the derrick man to rack drill pipe in such a manner as to effect a maximum economy of space, so that the drill pipe will be secure against inadvertent displacement, and so as to avoid or reduce the hazard to the derrick man to a minimum.

Still another important object of this invention is to enable the derrick man to rack drill pipe in such a manner that the drill pipe will be replaced in the well hole in inverse order to the removal of the same from the well hole.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus capable of realizing the above objects which in itself will be of light weight, occupy an out of the way yet convenient position when not in use, and which will be simple in construction and readily adaptable for use with conventional drilling rigs.

Important features, as well as ancillary objects of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, a preferred embodiment of the invention being illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of the invention, this view showing the invention in use upon a derrick, portions of the latter only being shown to illustrate the manner of attachment of the invention thereto;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional detail view illustrating the manner in which each of the fingers is pivotally and adjustably mounted upon the derrick; and,

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the outer end of one of the drill fingers, this view illustrating particularly the formation of a hook at the outer end of the elongated bar as well as the structure of the separate slidable drill pipe engaging fingers.

Reference is now made more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, attention being first directed to the structure shown in Figure 1, wherein at there is designated generally a portion of a conventional drilling derrick that includes upstanding corner members 12 and horizontal brace members 14. Secured to the outside of the derrick 10, in a detachable manner preferably, is an elongated member 16, the latter being secured by means of a strap 18 and suitable threaded fasteners 20.

A plurality of drill pipe engaging assemblies are secured at spaced intervals to the member 16, only two of such assemblies being shown at 22 and 24 in Figure 1. Each of the assemblies 22 and 24 is identical in construction, and as shown in Figure 2, each is secured to the member 16 by means of an eye bolt 26 that extends through the member 16 and retained therein by a nut 28. A U-shaped connector 30 is engaged by the eye bolt 26, such U-shaped connector 30 being provided with a colla: 32 having an internally threaded aperture 34 therethrough.

2,738,076 Fat exited Mar. 13, 1956 ice The threaded end portion 36 of an elongated bar 38 is adjustably threaded through the collar 32, while the other end of the elongated bar 38 is inturned, as at 40, to constitute a drill pipe engaging hook.

A plurality of sleeve elements 42 are slidably and rotatably received on the elongated bar 38, and each of the sleeve elements 42 is provided with an L-shaped drill pipe engaging fingers 44 rigidly attached thereto, the free end of each of the fingers extending towards the threaded end of the elongated bar 38.

The use of the present invention will be readily understood. It will be understood that normally the assemblies 22 and 24 will be disposed in the position shown of the assembly 24 in Figure 1 by virtue of the connection between the connector 30 and the eye bolt 26. In the use of the assembly, the derrick man, in positioning the first stand of drill pipe 46 removed from the well hole, will swing the elongated bar 38 to the position shown thereof in the assembly 22 in Figure 1, and allow the stand of drill pipe 36 to be received within the hook 40 of the elongated bar 38. The weight of the drill pipe stand 46 resting against the book 40 and the horizontal brace members 14 of the derrick will retain the elongated bar 38 in substantially a horizontal position. At this stage in the use of the invention, the sleeves 42 and the fingers 44 will be disposed in the full line position shown thereof in Figure 3 so as not to be in a position to interfere with the positioning of the drill pipe stand 46 in the hook 40, inasmuch as the weight of the fingers 44 will tend to cause the sleeves 42 to rotate to such a position. In positioning the second stand of drill pipe 48, the derrick man will swing the finger 44 closest to the hook 40 to the dotted line positionshown thereof in Figure 3, and then place the drill pipe stand 48 within the finger 44 as clearly shown in dotted outline in Figure 3. This procedure is continued until all of the fingers 44 have been sequentially engaged by the drill pipe stands sequentially withdrawn from the well hole.

It will be appreciated that the weight of the drill pipe stands bears upon the fingers 44 in such a manner as to urge the same towards the hooked end of the bar 38, so that the drill pipe stands previously positioned are locked in position.

After all of the fingers 44 of the assembly 22 have been engaged by drill pipe stands, the elongated bar 38 of the assembly 24 is raised to the horizontal position and the procedure described in connection with the assembly 22 is followed in engaging further drill pipe stands with the fingers 44 of the assembly 24. It will be evident that any number of assemblies such as those indicated at 22 and 24 may be employed that are necessary to rack the drill pipe.

In returning the drill pipe to the well hole, the reversed order of the above procedure for racking the drill pipe is followed, it being noted that such procedure will return the drill pipe into the well hole in precisely the reverse order from that which the same was removed from the well hole.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, but all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

In a drilling rig, means for racking drill pipe comprising an elongated horizontal member adapted to be fixed to a derrick, a plurality of elongated bars each having one end pivbtalli dnnected to said member at spaced intervals along the Ia'tt f, a pll'lrality Of elements Sli dabl' 1on gitudinally on each of the bars, a pipe engaging L-shaped finger having an enter end parallel to the bar figged to eaeh 9f the elements, and means f o 'r p'reventijng' th e elements fr'ni sliding off the ether end c'agf each f the bars, said elements comprising sleeve rotatable 611' said bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Thorpe May 12, 1931 Harrah Aug. 28, 1934 Umphres Sept. 28, 1937 Clark Feb. 21, 1939 Deckard Feb. 23, 1943 

